Urad (Black Gram)

A monsoon crop. Sow in Jun–Jul, harvest in Sep–Oct.

Check it on your land

Season

Kharif

JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

75% of its area. Also grown in rabi, summer.

Ready in

80 days

about 2½ months

Water

270–300 mm

of water over its season (rain plus irrigation)

Grows best at

22–35 °C

0 °C survives 8–40 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Kharif 75% of its area

Rabi 20% of its area

Summer 5% of its area

Today: rabi sowing time

Sow Harvest

Harvest Sow

JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay

Sow Growing Harvest

The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Kottayam Kerala

Good fit in Kottayam

Urad (Black Gram)

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around January

Still sowing time: sow by the end of December.

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Sold at 2 mandis in your district.

₹22,000–₹33,000

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹8,000–₹19,000 an acre a season

Suits: Rain is enough
Suits: Ideal temperatures
Suits: Soil 9/10

Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 240 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 310 mm it can use in a normal year (260 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 200 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 22–35 °C on average, and survives 8–40 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

Oct 31 °C / 24 °C
Nov 31 °C / 24 °C
Dec 31 °C / 23 °C

Soil

Soil for Urad (Black Gram): 9 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen.

The pH here suits it.
Most fields here are short of boron.

Likes pH 5.5–6.5.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 2.6 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹10,600 a quintal at mandis in your district.

This week: about ₹12,800 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹19,000 a season after typical costs.

Minimum support price: ₹8,200 a quintal (2026-27), if you sell to government procurement.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):

₹11,200 2021
₹11,000 2022
₹11,000 2023
₹12,900 2024
₹10,600 2025

Prices are usually best in August.

Typical costs are about ₹14,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.

How to make it work

Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.

Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.

Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea

4 kg

DAP

35 kg

MOP

13 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Kottayam

What it needs

Temperature

22–35 °C

best 22–35° 8° 40°

0 °C40 °C

Survives 8–40 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

270–300 mm over its season

Rain and irrigation together, worked out where most of it grows:

Lalitpur Chhatarpur Sagar Damoh Tikamgarh

Soil pH

best 5.5–6.5

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes slightly acidic soil. Grows from pH 4.5 to 7.5.

Soil

No salty soil
Needs rich soil
N Makes its own nitrogen
P Needs plenty of phosphorus and sulphur

How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); ICAR-CSSRI crop salt tolerance; FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

Urea nitrogen

4 kg less than a quarter of a 45 kg bag

DAP phosphate

35 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

MOP potash

13 kg about ¼ of a 50 kg bag

Sulphur: 8 kg for one acre, from about 45 kg of gypsum or 65 kg of single super phosphate

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

Yellow mosaic

Disease

Look for

Yellow patches on the leaves; spread by whitefly.

What to do first

Grow a resistant variety, pull out sick plants early and control whitefly.
Leaf crinkle

Disease

Look for

Leaves grow large, thick and crinkled.

What to do first

Use healthy seed and pull out sick plants.
Pod borer

Pest

Look for

Holes in pods with caterpillars feeding inside.

What to do first

Use pheromone traps and bird perches; spray when caterpillars are many. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹2,300

Yield India's average: 2.6 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Jan–Mar 2026): ₹6,378 a quintal
= Income: ₹16,400
− Costs seed, fertiliser, labour and machines, as the government costs them: −₹14,100
= Left: ₹2,300

This week urad (black gram) sells at about ₹7,728 a quintal: India's middle price at 184 mandis, latest 13 Nov. At that price an acre would leave about ₹5,800 a season.

Sold at the support price (MSP, ₹8,200 a quintal) to government procurement, an acre would leave about ₹7,000 a season. Procurement isn't open everywhere: ask at your mandi or agriculture office.

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹13,100 to ₹19,700 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month

October, ₹8,225 a quintal

Lowest

December, ₹5,900 a quintal

₹8,225

₹5,900

JJan FFeb MMar AApr MMay JJun JJul AAug SSep OOct NNov DDec

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Government minimum support price (MSP): ₹8,200 a quintal for 2026-27. Every crop's MSP

Latest prices near Kottayam Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India: 69.8 lakh acres; 2024-25
Average yield: 2.6 quintals an acre (0.6 tonnes a hectare); recent years, to 2024-25
Most area: Lalitpur; Uttar Pradesh
Best yield: East Godavari; 6.3 quintals an acre

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

Urad (Black Gram) yield, quintals an acre (average of 2020-21 to 2024-25 in most districts)

0.4–1.6
1.7–2.3
2.4–2.7
2.8–3.5
3.6–7.4

No data

1 Numbers match the list: the districts with the most area.

Source: Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Where yields are highest

Districts growing it on at least 100 ha, against the average across India. The line runs from India's average to each district.

Across India over the years

Yield across India, quintals an acre

0 1 q 2 q 3 q

2008-09 2024-25

Latest 2.9 quintals an acre in 2024-25

Area sown across India, acres

0 50 lakh 1 crore 1.5 crore

2008-09 2024-25

Latest 69.8 lakh acres in 2024-25

Years run July to June. Only years in which most of the usual districts reported are shown.

Soil and yield

How district soil tests line up with this crop's yields across India.

Urad (Black Gram) yields tend to be lower in districts with

More soil short of zinc weak 500 districts

A pattern is not proof that soil causes the difference.

Source: Soil Health Card – soil nutrient analysis (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – district-wise (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare); Crop area, production & yield – UPAG (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).